Elgin Baylor painted himself Thursday as a victim, a humble man who suffered in silence for two decades under the thumb of a bigoted, deceitful boss and NBA executives who tolerated racial discrimination.

In a wide-ranging series of sharp accusations, Baylor and his lawyers slammed Clippers owner Donald Sterling for forcing Baylor to work “with one hand tied behind my back” before firing him without cause, and denounced the NBA for ignoring Baylor’s plight and being “deaf, blind and mute” to racial issues.

Baylor’s lawyers filed a lawsuit Wednesday against the Clippers and the NBA. It claims race and age discrimination and alleges several instances in which Sterling made racially inflammatory comments.

In a statement released Thursday, Clippers general counsel Robert H. Platt said the lawsuit lacked credibility and was “driven by publicity-seeking attorneys hoping to draw attention to themselves.”

Details of the race-discrimination claims remained vague Thursday, but Baylor and his lawyers, who have not specified how much money they’re seeking, had heavy criticism for Sterling. Baylor, who had served as executive vice president since 1986, left the Clippers in October.

“I want to make one thing clear: I did not retire,” Baylor said at a news conference in Beverly Hills. “I had so much more to give. The way I was treated by the NBA and the Clippers was unfair and, in many ways, discriminatory. It was wrong. We are forced to take this action because our efforts to resolve this dispute quietly were essentially ignored.”

Flanked by his wife, Elaine, and four lawyers, the 74-year-old Baylor, a Hall of Fame player who spent 14 seasons with the Lakers, read from a statement but spoke with passion about the alleged wrongdoings.

In his statement, Baylor claimed:

That he had worked since 1993 without a contract, with only a Sterling assurance that he was a “lifer.”

That team president Andy Roeser frequently made jokes and innuendo about Baylor’s age.

That he didn’t receive extra compensation after being named NBA Executive of the Year in 2006.

That he discovered, while looking through team documents in 2006, that coach Mike Dunleavy had been given his general-manager duties, and that he was excluded from meetings and negotiations.

“It was like working with one hand tied behind my back,” Baylor said, “but given the shortage of blacks in the executive roles within the NBA, I felt obligated to hang in there and endure whatever came my way.”

The lawsuit, filed in Los Angeles Superior Court, also accuses Sterling of having a “pervasive and ongoing racist attitude,” says Sterling treated Baylor “as a token because of his race” and says Sterling “wanted the Clippers team to be composed of `poor black boys from the South’ and a white head coach.”

Sterling had “a vision of a Southern-plantation type structure,” the lawsuit reads.

“Their false claims carry no weight and have no credibility,” Platt’s statement said. “Elgin Baylor was with the Clippers for 22 years and he received numerous salary increases and was always treated well.

“During Elgin’s tenure, the other NBA teams employed over 125 general managers, with an average tenure of less than five years. In fact, despite the team’s poor draft history and record, Elgin was the NBA’s longest serving general manager when he chose to resign.”

In an e-mail, NBA spokesperson Brian McIntyre said, “We do not comment on pending litigations.”

No specific allegations have been made against NBA officials, but Baylor’s attorney, Alvin Pittman, said the NBA ignored Baylor’s paltry salary and did nothing to discourage Sterling’s alleged racist behavior.

“Minorities can play the game, but the NBA is deaf, blind and mute when it comes to the issue of employment discrimination in the executive ranks,” Pittman said. “It has done nothing.”

Baylor did not take questions after he finished his statement.

Carl Douglas, another Baylor attorney, was asked why Baylor stayed in his job for 22years in the face of alleged discriminatory treatment.

“One thing to remember about Elgin is, he’s humble, he’s poised, he’s gracious,” Douglas said. “He’s a team player. It’s not of his nature to rock the boat. He was one of 30 people that held those kinds of jobs.

“It was his life, working in the city that he loved, and he hoped that with his continued effort, he’d be able to turn the team around and to make them into a winner.

“Regrettably, he was tossed out before he was given that chance.”

During Baylor’s 22 seasons as an executive, the Clippers had a winning percentage of .349 (619-1,153) and made the playoffs four times. They had 10 coaches, including two African-Americans – Don Chaney and Alvin Gentry – and three interim coaches, including two African-Americans, in that span.

Rich Hammond was a high school senior when the Rams left town in 1995, and now he's their beat writer for the Southern California News Group. A native of L.A., Rich broke in at the Daily Breeze as a college freshman and also has covered USC, the Kings, the Lakers and the Dodgers. He still loves sports and telling stories. Don't take the sarcastic tweets too seriously.